San Antonio’s Martinez Fischer is back in the Texas House, and he wants to be in the center of the fray

Trey Martinez Fischer won back his seat in the Texas House from Diana Arévalo, who won it after he gave it up for an unsuccessful run for the state Senate against José Menéndez.

Photo: Jasper Scherer /San Antonio Express-News

Trey Martinez Fischer is back, and he’s hoping to occupy a familiar place in the Texas House: the center of the fray.

The longtime lawmaker was known for sharp elbows and crafty moves during his first stint in the chamber, from 2001 to 2016. He was dubbed the “Prince of POO,” which stands for points of orders, the rules and procedures he often deployed to derail bills that he and fellow Democrats didn’t like.

“There’s something to be said about having a good defense,” Martinez Fischer said with a smile in a recent interview.

As he returns to Austin in January, Martinez Fischer said he doesn’t think his approach will differ much from his first 16 years in office, and he is looking forward to playing some offense in this year’s session.

He will have more than just his reputation to rely on. Martinez Fischer gets to keep his 16 years of seniority, making him one of the most senior members in the House — 20th out of 150, by his count.

That means he’ll have his pick of committee assignments, and he’ll also be the “dean” of the Bexar County delegation. (His new third-floor office previously belonged to the late Rep. Ruth McClendon, former dean of the delegation.)

“I don’t need a map of the capital. I don’t need a tutorial,” Martinez Fischer said. “I’m hoping to not miss a beat.”

Martinez Fischer’s colleagues hope his expertise and experience will enhance Democrats’ clout in the chamber. The party gained 12 House seats in the November election, nearly cutting in half the GOP’s majority. There are now 83 Republicans and 67 Democrats.

More than a dozen Democratic House members — including at least four in San Antonio — endorsed Martinez Fischer in his contentious primary win over incumbent Diana Arévalo, who had succeeded him after he launched an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 2016.

Rep. Roland Gutierrez, one of the San Antonio Democrats who endorsed Martinez Fischer, said it was important for both the city and the party to have its “best assets” on the floor. That includes Martinez Fischer, whose record is more nuanced than his combative reputation suggests, Gutierrez said.

He has deep friendships with a number of Republicans and can work across the aisle, according to Gutierrez.

“He’s got a history, and he’s done very well,” Gutierrez said. “In order to be respected in Austin, you have to work well with both sides.”

Martinez Fischer said his Republican friends include Dennis Bonnen, who is expected to become the next Texas Speaker.

“The early indications are that he appears to be putting a team together with an interest and a desire to work together,” Martinez Fischer said.

The lawmaker said he’s optimistic that could lead to a more productive session than 2017, when the legislature was consumed by contentious and high-profile battles over the so-called bathroom bill, which would have restricted bathroom use for transgender people.

Bonnen has said school finance will be the top priority for the House this year; the state’s contribution to the public school system’s expenses has decreased from around 50 percent a decade ago to about 38 percent.

Martinez Fischer said he wants to get an accurate account of the cost of public education. Once that’s done, he said the state should be open to using all available funds — including rainy day funds — to address the issue.

“My elbows always go up when I hear people say, ‘You can’t just throw money at the problem,’” Martinez Fischer said. “While sometimes I agree with that, I completely agree with the reverse, which is that you can’t take money out of the problem and think it’s going to improve either.”

Other priorities for the session will include the budget process — Martinez Fischer said that will be complicated by the declining price of oil — and children’s health. Kids are “some of our biggest victims,” he said.

Make no mistake, the Prince of POO has returned. Martinez Fischer said if Republicans try something he deems “out of bounds,” he’ll have his rulebook handy.

At the capitol, he said, you have to decide “whether you want to be feared or whether you want to be loved. I made a decision a long time ago that I give my love at home.”

Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall for the Express-News through the Hearst Journalism Fellowship program. His first beat at the paper was focused on Bexar County government and local politics.

He covered the hard-fought 23rd District congressional race between Will Hurd and Gina Ortiz-Jones in the 2018 election and the special state Senate election to replace Carlos Uresti. He’s also covered goings-on at the sheriff’s department and Bexar County Commissioners Court.

McGuinness previously covered the Rhode Island statehouse for the Associated Press and breaking news for the Boston Globe. He grew up in Connecticut, graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, and is a die-hard Red Sox fan.